Ch 8 - Fang Yuan, if you can take advantage of rebirth, why can't I do the same?

The second round of competition of Central Continent's Refinement Path Convention was being held, one of the places was Flying Frost Sect.

Hundreds of years ago, a piece of profound ice floated over from somewhere, into Central Continent's east coast. After the profound ice was found, it attracted a lot of commotion. At first, a large number of mortal Gu Masters were attracted and came to scour the place. Over the next handful of years, more Gu Masters came to the profound ice, staying here permanently with no intention of leaving.

Places with humans have conflict, the island had limited capacity, as more people came, in order to defend their own interests, the Gu Masters on the island gathered into an alliance, creating a tight boundary around the ice island and preventing outsiders from coming in. Thus Flying Frost Sect was created.

Haru held the token as he came to Flying Frost Sect.

'So this the piece of profound ice. It's so magnificent. What is described in the novel can't even begin to compare.'

Haru was very interested in the frozen ice which would not melt despite the environment being moderately warm. He was even more interested in this due to his previous study and profession on Earth. He was a chemistry professor back on Earth and dealt with combining different elements to research for new products. To date, he had seen hundreds and thousands of different chemical structures. He would react like a curious kid whenever he came across something new. However, till date he could not invent a new chemical structure. If this was Earth, he could be said to have Grandmaster attainment in Chemistry. With his knowledge, he found many common traits in the materials and resources in the Gu world. In only 1 month, he had seen more new elements than he had ever seen on Earth while refining alongside Lord Sky Crane.

However, there were also some materials that left him totally baffled and amazed. That were those which he couldn't comprehend how it came into existence at all. For example, There were no materials which dealt with soul directly in his previous life on Earth. When Haru held soul path material first time in his hand, he was shivering from excitement. It felt soft to the touch and he felt the existence of his soul for the first time too since it reacted in response to the soul path material.

In his amazement, he inspected the profound ice and sighed having an incredulous feeling. He then went ahead and met with the Flying Frost Sect Leader An Han and later inquired about the task from the disciples.

The task here was to refine the rank two ghost fire Gu. The rules had changed, it was no longer deciding the winner by quantity, but using time instead.

"Lad, I can't believe you have such a great luck so as to choose the correct choice twice. I gave you fifteen different options of Rank 2 gu worms, one of which I thought would be asked in the second round. My advice was to practice each one of them so you have a moderate chance of passing round 2. However, you insisted on focusing only on Ghost fire Gu saying that you won't get much time to prepare for other rounds if you focus on all of them. I reprimanded you back then but to think your choice turned out to be correct. Are you secretly a wisdom path Gu master or what? No, only wisdom path gu immortals might be able to deduce the contents of the exams. I have been with you all the time so it's impossible that you have met such an important figure. You truly have great luck. Sigh, if only I had such luck back then. I would have become a Gu Immortal too with the inheritance I found. Curse that damned brat Fang Yuan and Gu Yue Fist Gen Zombie. I have started to develop a serious dislike for these zombies."

Haru nodded. He knew Lord Sky Crane was talking about the Blood Sea Ancestor's true inheritance which was stolen by Fang Yuan in this life.

The task was for the Gu Master to refine ten ghost fire Gu at once, Gu Masters using less time would get better positions. The specifications were listed, using fifteen minutes or less would be first place. Since this operated on a first come, first served basis, if someone gets first, then another person who beat the fifteen minute requirement would only get second. If second place was taken, they would only place third. If all three positions were taken, they would get no rewards.

This time, the reward for first place was five rank three ice path Gu worm recipes. For refinement path Gu Masters, ice path Gu Masters, or even large forces, this had a lot of attraction.

'In the last practice with Lord Sky Crane, it took me 27 minutes to refine ten Ghost fire gu at once.'

Ghost fire Gu was both a fire path and soul path Gu, the steps are quite tricky and complicated, they would expend a lot of mental energy and the soul would weaken. Haru had to use guts gu to recover his soul after each practice. He also received better refinement methods from Lord Sky Crane which led to less pressure on his soul.

Fifteen minutes had passed and a commotion started. The expression of the elder of Flying Frost Sect was dark, he announced helplessly: "Refinement succeeded, using less than fifteen minutes, the first place of this round of the competition goes to — Fang Yuan."

The second round ended with Haru not getting the rank at all since he took more than 15 minutes. He didn't get any rewards but countless people praised him since everyone knew his primary path was enslavement. Even Haru himself was jubilant.

Suddenly, there was another commotion. A young Gu Master shouted loudly: "Senior Fang Yuan, may I be so bold as to request a duel with you!"

'This is going how it went exactly in the previous life.', Haru looked at the duel with a heated gaze.

Zhen Shan Chuan's master however looked very nervous. He didn't intend for Zheng Shan Chuan to take this risk and wanted him to withdrew him from the competition. But the competition continued when Flying Frost sect members tried to enforce the duel from behind when they saw the hesitation. Even Fang Yuan, being confident in his schemes and refinement path attainment gave Zheng Shan Chuan the initiative to choose the Gu to refine.

Zheng Shan Chuan had an air of confidence surrounding him and he accepted the duel. The duel terms were soon set with the help of his master Old Man Qi Shan. He proposed the terms that they would decide the winner by who first refines the wisdom path careful gu which was part of his core inheritance. He provided the recipe to Fang Yuan to go through. The duel was set to start immediately. If Fang Yuan lost, he would give green shine Gu to Zhen Shan Chuan. If he won, Zhen Shan Chuan would become his slave.

The duel started and Zhen Shan Chuan was at a high advantage since he had practiced the recipe of careful gu countless times which Fang Yuan was still going through the recipe calmly for the first time. Fang Yuan calmly started refining the gu. His pace was increasing step by step but the victor of this duel was set from the start. Even Fang Yuan didn't have any methods to surpass Zhen Shan Chuan in refining the Careful gu.

Zheng Shan Chuan was oozing with confidence, he had almost finished his refinement and was at the last step. He looked towards Fang Yuan and felt relieved seeing that he was still a lot behind but when he retracted his gaze, Fang Yuan suddenly laughed loudly: "Hahaha, Zheng Shan Chuan, you lost, look at my refinement path killer move!"

"What?" Zheng Shan Chuan's heart shuddered, he immediately turned to look at Fang Yuan.

Only to see that Fang Yuan took out a Gu worm and squashed it. It was the green shine gu.

Zheng Shan Chuan's eyes turned pin sized. He was almost about to lose control of his refinement when he suddenly activated Rank 3 Clear mind gu. It was a wisdom path gu worm which was very helpful in focusing one's mind.

'How can this guy be so shameless?! I almost lost control of my refinement. Anyway, if I win, he has to keep his side of the deal since even the clan leader is present. Otherwise, he risks dropping out of the Refinement path convention.'

Zheng Shan Chuan was barely able to control his thoughts and saved the refinement from failing. However, he had to restart the last step. This time he was very wary. Fang Yuan tried to use 2-3 other tricks like using gu worms to affect the surroundings but Zheng Shan Chuan was also a refinement master. He wouldn't fall to other tricks.

Haru was observing from the side, 'As shameless as expected from Fang Yuan. He's not one to suffer a loss easily. However, the results are set. I secretly helped Zheng Shan Chuan earlier.'

Soon, Zheng Shan Chuan finished the last step of the refinement and won the duel. A newly refined Careful gu appeared in his hands.

Everyone gave him and Fang Yuan an incredulous look. Everyone outside was silent for a few breaths before reacting, they were all shocked, their voices overlapped and caused a huge wave of chattering.

"What a ruthless demonic path Gu Master! He tried so many tactics to make the young gu master fail his refinement! But this young Gu master is really a monster. Being able to concentrate on refinement even in such a scenario. He is worthy of respect."

Expert gu masters were guessing the refinement attainment of both the parties.

"This young gu master is definitely at master level while that demonic path gu master also refined the careful gu so fast even when it was his first time! He is definitely above master level attainment in refinement path."

Some others were commenting on the tactics used by Fang Yuan and the ingenuity behind it.

"He directly destroyed green shine Gu, trying to cause Zheng Shan Chuan to lose control and fail the Gu refinement!"

"This Fang Yuan is too good at scheming, it's just his bad luck that he got an opponent like Zheng Shan Chuan who kept the composure and completed the refinement."

"Most importantly, he destroyed his own green shine Gu, I wonder how he will keep his end of the deal."

"No, look properly, that's the rank 1 imitate gu. It can temporarily take appearance and aura of other gu. This demonic gu master had planned this from the start."

Fang Yuan looked deeply at Zhen Shan Chuan for a second. He had taken a loss this time. He did not expect him to use the Rank 3 Clear Mind Gu. He did try to use other methods but he knew that the young gu master was resolute like himself and he would not be able to hinder him. Fang Yuan currently did not have any refinement path killer moves and hence had to suffer a loss.

Not everything would go as per one's expectation. He had used his schemes and tactics but the young gu master in front of him was a refinement path master at such a young age and was able to keep his composure even in such a case. That was out of his expectation. His wariness increased for such a character. Fang Yuan used luck inspection gu and saw his golden luck reaching the heavens.

Currently, everyone was looking at the Fang Yuan to see if he would follow the terms set earlier.

Even Flying Frost Sect Leader An Han looked at Zhen Shan Chuan and Fang Yuan intently. He was feeling pleasure at the loss of demonic path gu master. Righteous path always comes out on top. Fang Yuan saw the situation and was coldly sneering internally.

The duel was over, how could he change the terms under everyone's watchful gazes? He main goal was the refinement path convention. He wouldn't give up on the greater aspect just for minor gains.

As the saying goes, human dies for wealth and bird dies for food. How could Fang Yuan not know it? He was targeting the infallible inheritance's success dao mark. If he didn't follow through the duel terms, he will be disqualified for the further rounds of refinement path convention.

"Here, take it. It's your win. But here's a parting advice, this gu is not enough to cure your master.", saying so, Fang Yuan took his leave. Fang Yuan didn't see any benefit in taking revenge on this young gu master.

After all, Fang Yuan had not suffered total loss. He received the recipe of Careful gu. Also, for him, a Rank 4 green shine had no value.

Currently, there was a joy of victory as well as look of gratefulness on the face of Zhen Shan Chuan. He looked at a particular direction to find a young man smiling back at him. It was Elder Fang Zheng.

'Fang Yuan, you are not the only one with knowledge of the future. If you can blatantly take advantage of rebirth, why can't I do the same?', Haru thought as a satisfied smile appeared on his face.